Transcaspian Urial (Ovis vignei arkal) - Endangered Species

INTRODUCTION  Locally known as  the Arakal  in the Ustyurt region of Central Asia. 

Preferring gentle mountain slopes and plateaus, the graceful and high-legged urials are adjusted to moving deftly on rolling terrain. The weakening of the nature reserve system has led to increased poaching combined with overgrasing by domestic livestock in their range the numbers of urials have drastically declined now the total number in the wild are believed to be less than 5,000. 

DESCRIPTION The horn length of an adult male is up to 110 cm. Shoulder height up to 99 cm. Weight up to 90 kg. Females can weigh up to 45 kg. A large, bright-coloured, very handsome urial. Adult rams have a white bib and a long, white neck ruff; immature males have a smaller, dark neck ruff. Upper parts are uniformly tawny-brown. Rump patch, muzzle, belly and lower legs are white, and there is a darker stripe separating belly and upper body. No saddle patch, but some males have a dark shoulder spot in winter coat. The horns are rather long and homonymous, growing in a tight circle or forming an open spiral. The frontal horn surface is flat, with sharp angles and distinct ridges, triangular in cross section. Females have short, straight horns.

DISTRIBUTION Kazakhstan: The Ustyurt Plateau between the Caspian and Aral seas, and southward in the Kopet Dag range. Uzbekistan: Western Areas. Turkmenistan: Southern. Iran: From the Kopet Dag range through Khorasan Province in the northeast. Afghanistan: In the extreme northwest, bordering Iran and Turkmenistan.

ЗАКАСПИЙСКИЙ УРИАЛ : Trans-Caspian Urial (англ.), Transkaspischer Urialschaf (нем.), Transcaspien urial (фр.),Urial del Transcaspio, Urial de arkal (исп.).